


Summertime Blues

by usagigirlff



Series: Moca's ChikaItaWeek2020 [1]
Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Asthma, ChikaIta Week 2020, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Office
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25688110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usagigirlff/pseuds/usagigirlff
Summary: [#Chikaita Week 2020] Day 1: Office/Overtime/Lunch BreakThe summer heat isn't good for Itaru's weak constitution.(Warning: This fic contains depictions of an asthma attack.)
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Utsuki Chikage
Series: Moca's ChikaItaWeek2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864408
Comments: 10
Kudos: 88
Collections: ChikaIta Week 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: This fic contains depictions of an asthma attack. Asthma attacks contain symptoms similar to panic attacks. Don't read if it might be triggering. But there will be fluff and comfort, I promise!

His facade was quickly crumbling in the middle of the day. Itaru could feel his breath quickening through the damning summer heat radiating even through his thin summer shirt.

Why did today have to be the day the office air condition broke down? Although it had been maintained throughout the spring, the elevated temperatures of this particular summer stressed the system enough that on the hottest day of the season, the air con finally gave in. Just his luck.

Glancing around the office, Itaru could see his coworkers equally as harrowed through the combined heat of so many bodies in so little air circulation. It was the height of the afternoon and everyone had resumed work after a quick jaunt for lunch and water. Now would be the worst time to cut the day short. Even a sick leave at this hour would count toward his important days off.

Still, the buzz of phones and the shift of papers was starting to turn into a nauseating echo drumming through his brain. Not enough oxygen. If he remained, maybe one of his coworkers would notice. Shit

Glancing around, he got up to mock stretch, turning a laboured breath into what he hoped was a convincing huff of releasing tension. Seeing that it was casual enough to escape attention, he started to stride at what he hoped was a normal, and totally not at all frantic, pace around the maze of desks and paperwork toward the door to salva-

"Chigasaki-san?"

Shit, he was so close... Salvation...

Still, he took a deep breath to put on what he hoped wasn't too strained of a smile before turning,

"Yes, Ono-san? Did you need something?"

The older man in question sat back in his chair with a creak, hand fan wafting his gray beard a bit,

"You're getting a smoke right? Haha! I can't say I would have pegged our resident pretty boy for being the type! Still I can understand the cravings! When my wife was still-"

Itaru would blame his twitching smile for the heat getting to him rather than impatience.

"So I can't say it was good for me, but what's youth without a little risk? As it turns out, later, my doctor-"

Okay. He was running out of time. Feeling the room spin a little, Itaru wasn't sure he could keep rooted on the same spot without bowing to the force of gravity soon.

"And my daughter, in the end was the one that really-"

Before he could gather his remaining brain power to politely suggest that Ono-san stfu, a soft voice interrupted,

"...I'm sorry to intrude, but I really need this chart looked over... I'm not sure whether I've set the values correctly..."

Ah, their new summer intern, what was her name?

"Haha! It's no problem at all, Aida-chan! Just hand me your graph and I'll see where you need improvements!"

_Thank you, Aida-chan_ , Itaru tried to telepath briefly, flashing her a slightly more genuine smile before taking the distraction to stride quickly down the hallway toward the stairwell heading to the roof.

Absentmindedly, through his lightheadedness, Itaru remembered that he should probably tell Chikage if he were to have a medical emergency on the rooftop, considering they were...

Well, if he couldn't think of the term immediately, Itaru would also blame that on the continuing exercise up the four soild flights of stairs to the top of the building. Well, he'd probably be fine by the end of the day, and Senpai would be none the wiser...

Is what he thought before another dizzy spell flipped his balance backward, tilting his world in a pointed nosedive toward the metal ceiling of the next flight of stairs. Trying to keep in mind that the stairs could echo, Itaru tried to hook his flailing limbs around the railing, catching his wrist in a painful twist and wrenching his torque headfirst, sideways toward the concrete wall instead. His head bounced solidly off once before spinning him back again to thunk back onto on the cold, unforgiving surface.

Blinking stars out of his eyes, Itaru slid down the wall where his wrist was trapped, and sat down with his legs splayed awkwardly between two steps. Trying to wrench his wrist free from the narrow gap between the wall and the bannister just sent a jolt of lightning down his arm, not unlike his sprain during RomiJuli. He swallowed back a wince and gingerly manipulated his well and truly trapped arm to relieve some of the pressure weighing on it.

_Great_. He thought through his desperate attempts to slow his heartrate and catch his breath. Then, somewhat hysterically, _Senpai is probably going to notice if I can't drive him home today_.

Itaru's rapid breaths echoed through his head enough that he couldn't tell whether it was loud enough to echo off the metal surrounding him. The heavy wheezing built up through his lungs, automatically curling his legs inward toward his chest into an uneven ball, as if to stave off the coldness of the deserted stairwell. He ducked his head forward staring blurrily at the grated texture between his knees seeing the grid pattern fog in and out of focus, distantly amused. Ah, those might be tears too?

_I wonder how many it would take to pool enough to drip through? Maybe it would splash dramatically like the healing sfx in KniRou 7? Or maybe the Lady of the Lake manifestation CG in 2? ...Ah, this kind of random thinking probably isn't good. I need to call Gwen to cast some kind of confusion null before I continue..._

Oh, that was a good idea. Itaru felt mildly congratulatory toward his brain before trying to resituate himself. His left wrist hung limp above his bowed head, while he mindfully used his other arm to wipe some of the lingering evidence off his cheeks. Heaving greatly, Itaru slapped his hand against various pockets to check where his phone lay. Did he forget to bring it? Oh no, of course it would be in his right jacket pocket. He'd even neglected to even turn it off before heading back into the office after lunch, which finally brought a stroke of good fortune to this shit show of a day.

Shoving his phone next to the quickly evaporating dark spots on the staircase, Itaru clicked the unlock key to brightly illuminate the dark space between his locked knees. Holding his phone correctly was near impossible with his numbed, oxygen deprived fingers. Like staring into the bulb of a flashlight, he blinked a couple times to try and clear his vision, to no avail. Still, Itaru keyed in his passcode to the best of his abilities before finally aligning his phone enough with his hand to forcefully muscle memory his way through the security. Mission Success! Let's see, he needed Gwen...

_Brrr brrr, brrr brrr_

"Itaru? What's up? I'm a little busy right now... But you're the middle of work right? Did you need something?"

Ah Gwen, prompt as ever in answering his summons. Itaru tried to gulp down enough breath to explain what was happening. He bit his numbed lips, hoping to get a little bit of feeling back into them. One... Two... Three... Breathe In...

"... Itaru?"

"K-kan-to... H-hng..."

"Itaru?!"

Well, he'd made an attempt, he supposed. It's a good thing his pretty boy image was long shattered before he made that noise into a phone call with someone. Not that it would have been that bad even then. From another perspective it might be more desirable for a pretty boy image to make that sort of... Oh, she was talking. How much time passed? Things were still too blurry around the edges for him to tell. The numbness was slowly creeping up his extremities to even soothe the throbing feeling of his locked wrist. That probably wasn't a good sign.

"-clearly hear him breathing! Matsukawa, did he say anything about emergency contacts? No, I can't call the ambulance while I'm ON the phone? Itaru, where ARE you? Itaru? You need to slow down-"

Itaru really hoped she didn't expect an actual response. Instead, he focused on breathing in and out. Passing out to the sounds of someone worrying over you was starting to sound surprisingly pleasant, he told the flickering edges of his vision. It would certainly beat being completely alone in the company stairwell.

"Ok, you get that part, Masumi! Itaru, just stay put, okay? Just wait for..."

Itaru wondered if this is how Lancelot felt at the end of KniRou 2, finally realizing that true knighthood was less about what face he put on, than the friendships he was fated to find on his journey. But he also bet he looked a lot stupidier than Lancelot did at the end of his journey. What was that quote again?

Itaru blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

His eyes cracked open. Green filled his vision. He felt warm, not the arid consuming warmth that had set off his attack, but a gentle comforting warm that reminded him of blankets and late nights playing games. A heartbeat thrummed in his ear, giving a soft steady rhythm that resounded in his own breath. Itaru blinked.

"Just relax."

Oh. Well that seemed like a nice suggestion. Something easy to do. Itaru liked it. He wanted to keep napping. He curled up into the warm hold a bit more, letting his head lean into the soft dip it rested on.

The breeze tickled his loose hair, sending a cool whisper across his clammy skin. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear the whoosh of cars and the hum of motorcycles. Even with that, the only thing his brain seemed to grasp a hold of was the slow beat of someone's heart.

A cool hand was carding over his bangs, sweeping them off his face, fingers dancing barely across his heated skin. Itaru nuzzled his head upward, tilting it into the light touch. The fingers stuttered before repeating their movement across again, this time with a clearer intent to move icy fingers calmingly over his forehead.

"You're as spoiled as ever, even like this," the low voice chuckled.

Itaru couldn't help but go for a hum of agreement, only managing a light wheeze instead.

"It's fine, Chigasaki. I don't mind it as much as I thought I would."

Itaru tried to move his lead heavy limbs to respond accordingly, but only managed a slight tugging motion on the back of the other's shirt.

"Hmm? Don't be like that. It's not everyday I let someone lean on my shoulder after all. I'd be lying if I said I thought I'd ever let anyone close enough to do this before."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence.

Itaru closed his eyes. Although slightly one-sided, their regular banter was calming his nerves the last bit he didn't even know he needed, and he wanted to allow his brain this precious bit of lag to preserve the moment. The heartbeat sounded softly in time.

He didn't feel tired, just safe. It wasn't a feeling Itaru thought he would find at a place as stringent as an office. Speaking of which, where exactly were they?

Squinting his eyes open again, he saw the bright summer blue of open skies, completely clear of clouds. It wavered like an illusion, though the two of them were safely tucked away further into a shadowed alcove by the entrance of the roof. The shade proved to be constant enough to allow for soft patches of mossy greenery to encroach between the cracks of the concrete, and the fresh high altitude of the roof tickled a lighter breeze than the sweltering sun should rightfully allow.

"What time is it?" Itaru managed to croak.

"Hmm? Just about 5:30."

Itaru sank a little further while he processed the time difference. He'd left just after lunch and had spent the next 4 and a half hours simply dozing on the roof. Oh, didn't this mean he missed the entire work day? Well, there went his planned event days. Speaking of which...

"LP regen..." He muttered.

Itaru moved his good hand from the back of the shirt he'd tugged on, only to realize that he wasn't wearing his jacket anymore. A hand caught his wrist in the middle of his aborted movement to try and pat search his phone, and gently grasped his fingers, keeping the arm swayed casually between them.

"I don't think that should be what you focus on first."

Despite everything, Itaru felt a childish spike of annoyance.

"You know... tiering..."

He broke out into a series of short airy coughs trying to formulate his grievances.

"And you call me unromantic. Here."

Itaru keeled a little off his perch inbetween coughs to feel the lip of a cup touch his lips. He parted his mouth to allow a thin stream cool liquid down his dry throat, trying his best not to let it unflatteringly spill it down his front.

"Slowly."

He pushed nudged the edge of the cup to signify that he was done and took a gulp of air before attemping to speak again.

"Thanks."

"Of course, it's just water from the water cooler."

Itaru squeezed their conjoined hands a bit to stop that deliberate misunderstanding in it's tracks. He tilted his head back onto where it was resting previously, and let his eyes slide over to the patch of green hair that he'd woken to.

"Senpai, you know what I mean. Thanks. For being here." Itaru specified.

The glint off the edge of his glasses highlighted the movement of him tilting his head away from Itaru. Itaru couldn't make out his expression from the angle, but found that he didn't really need to strain hard to read him anyway.

"I'm not sure if you remember, but you are my ride home."

"Trains don't stop at 5."

There wasn't much else to refute that logic.

Itaru finally felt his HP recover enough to take full stock of his person, remembering the awful pain in his wrist that suddenly seemed a little less distant now that he'd started to collect his bearings.

To his left, he saw that his arm limply rested on top of his folded tan jacket, wrapped in a tight bandaid that looked pretty neat, not that he'd expect any less from his capable senpai. He tried wiggling his fingers. _Ow_. Yup, there was the pain he expected from a sprain.

"I'm not sure I could drive like this anyways."

Blue eyes followed his gaze to the bandaged arm.

"I wasn't going to ask you to. Besides, I have the car keys now."

"Jeez, don't you think stealing from an unconscious person is wrong?"

"Are you planning on reporting the theft?"

"Maybe I will, you don't know me."

"..."

Maybe not the smartest quip he'd ever done, but at that Chikage got quiet.

_Did I step over a line somewhere? I thought it was just the usual banter..._ Itaru worried.

Just when he was about to apologize,

"You're right."

_What?_

Chikage put the cup of water down in front of them and leaned his head down to look directly into confused fuschia eyes.

"You're right. I don't know you at all. Before joining the Company, I researched all your backgrounds; birthdates, blood types, school records, living conditions, family, but I certainly didn't care enough about any of you to bother looking at things much more detailed than that. You weren't my... goals after all."

Was this an acknowledgement about what happened in the past? It wasn't like Chikage to just spell it out like that. Not that any of this was new information, but still.

"I know all the details made you a profile, but not as a person. I certainly didn't care enough look into your medical histories."

_Oh._

"I know you played up being a sickly character in high school, and that your overall stamina is terrible, but I didn't think to look much further into it. I just assumed, like everyone else, you were just the lazy Chigasaki Itaru by choice. Even now, after all this time, I didn't bother looking at more information... Even now that we..."

Candid cerulean eyes looked into his own. Now, Itaru could recognize the slight guilt in them. Which was odd, there wasn't much to to be guilty about. Especially not for something as small as this.

But considering the circumstances, Itaru figured he owed Chikage an explaination. The bandage on his arm twinged in reminder. He sighed and hung his head up to gaze into the vibrant blueness of the sky instead.

"... Not everyone can be a cheat character like you. I had to get the Gym class note from _someone_. The school system wouldn't have let me play the pretty, sickly boy otherwise. But not even my acting would be good enough for a bunch of faceless administrators who don't care about individuals."

"As for the other part, I won't deny it, I _am_ a lazy person without any stamina. With or without a chronic illness. You shouldn't pity me for not building my stamina up just because I started out with negative stats."

"While initally, I may have fallen into video games as an escape for my shortgivings, it's who I am as a person. I like video games, _and_ taking the opportunity to laze where I can. So nothing has changed from before."

Itaru looked back toward Chikage, just to make sure he got his point across.

"I am the lazy Chigasaki Itaru everyone knows. You aren't missing anything here, senpai."

And with that florish, Itaru took the dramatic end of his speech as opportunity to unceremoniously flop back onto Chikage's shoulder and break into another series of coughs.

Chikage swept up the paper cup he'd placed and tipped the remaining water into his mouth inbetween spastic fits.

It probably wasn't good to make such a long speech when he'd just recovered a little bit of his SP (speaking points) back, but it needed to be said before Chikage did something stupid like blame himself; when really, the blame lay on Itaru hiding his chronic illness all this time. It wasn't fun playing a pitable character, much less to his family, and so he may have subconsciously decided to never bring it up. He much prefered the image the rest of Mankai had of him right now.

"Surely you have an inhaler or something then?" Concern hinted at the edge of the generally flat voice.

Feeling the moisture return to his throat, Itaru hoped this would be enough to at least tide his attack for now. He shook his head.

"No, I haven't gotten a new one since high school. Summer hasn't been that bad since we usually have air conditioning, but even now that that's rip, I can't exactly whip out a electric fan in the middle of work."

"Right, you and your appearances."

"Don't act as if you would either."

"I wouldn't need to in the first place."

"Cheat character."

Ah good, back to normal.

"Still, only you would manage to sprain your wrist while walking up the stairs."

"Hey, I don't remember ever claiming to have any points in Dex."

"You're right, I'm not even surprised."

Oh, speaking of the stairwell...

"... Did Kantoku-san call you?"

"Hmm? No, actually it was Masumi who called."

"... Damn, I guess I really messed up that encounter huh. 100% busted."

"How so?"

Itaru felt the burning feeling of shame sinking in his stomach. He lifted his head and traced the edges of the moss lining the floor with his eyes instead.

"It's nothing."

Chikage's face went from questioning to understanding.

"They wouldn't treat you any different, you know. The kids at Mankai wouldn't pity you either."

"..."

Itaru still couldn't help but think something would change. He wasn't fragile. He was a 25 year old adult. He could deal with his own weaknesses in his own time. Well, until today.

Chikage sighed. He gave their hands a short squeeze.

"You're so spoiled. But fine."

"...You trusted me. But you trust them far more."

"None of them would treat you differently no matter what weaknesses you unveil. You don't do it to them either, despite how unbothered you pretend to be. Spring- no, Mankai Company is full of people like that. The lot of you, taking care of each other's weaknesses and turning them into strengths."

He picked up his hand to slide his fingers inbetween Itaru's fingers, holding them up, palm to palm.

"You turned this weakness into something else too."

Itaru turned his head back to stare at the uncharacteristic gesture.

Chikage looked as unfazed as ever, but there was a certain softness that spoke with his actions. Still just to be sure.

"'Something else?'"

"Don't be gross. You know what I mean."

"... You won't even give me this in my moment of weakness?"

"Fine."

Chikage let go of his hand to grab his chin instead, turning his head and planting a light kiss to his lips.

_Oh thank god my lips aren't numb anymore_. Itaru's mind blanked.

"I hope that's clear enough."

"......"

"I think we're still being paid for overtime by the way."

"...What?"

"The girl who works on your floor mentioned that your boss wasn't-"

"No. Wait, wait, wait. What does that make us, senpai? What are we?"

Chikage let it sit for a second before answering,

"We're whatever you'd like us to be, Chigasaki."

"Seriously?"

"......"

"Nice. Kitakore. High spec boyfriend get~"

"... If that's how it translates into Chigasaki, that's fine."

"Does that mean I can kiss you back?"

"You really bounce back quickly, huh?"

"Office dating sims always rely on the rooftop events."

_This is who you like_ , Chikage reminded himself, pinching the bridge of his nose inbetween his glasses.

"Is that a no on kissing?" Itaru asked, a little softer.

Chikage sighed again. He used his arms to push himself into standing before holding out his hand to Itaru.

"How about we clock out before the sun sets and I drive us home first. Then we can see about it."

Itaru smiled and took his hand.

"It would be my pleasure, senpai."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and then they fuuuuuucked~ the end.
> 
> This is my first fic. Ever. I wrote it on my phone.  
> So if you liked it, or have any tips for this newbie writer/newbie a3 fan, please tell me~ Thank you and Happy Chikaita Week!


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